Transfer Webhost AND Migrate Blogger to WordPress
The time has come for Tony Vahl and I to deal with something we have been putting off for a while because of the amount of time and technical frustration we have to deal with: we have to move DailySkew.com and all subdomains. This is not just a straight transfer, either. Let me explain how Google and IX Webhosting forced our hands:
Blogger.com (the software that runs this blog aka Blogspot) is run by Google, but it has always been its red-headed stepchild while WordPress.org and WordPress.com have delivered superior blogging services. You may wonder why we didn't transfer before. Well, Google had Blogger set up so that if you have your own domain name and use FTP, like Dailyskew.com, nothing is easy. Couple that with the fact that IX Webhosting is one of the last remaining web hosting companies that does not have easy installation for WordPress blogs on our server, and you have your answer.
So Tony and I were just gonna rideout our webhosting contract with IX until later this year, switch companies, while still keeping Blogger on our current sites just because migration still may have headaches. However, Google gave everyone with a hosted FTP domain an ultimatum: blogger.com's software is being discontinued for users with FTP accounts. The directory structure is different, and although they are releasing a migration tool this month, we're not buying. When we tried to get help from IX technical support, a Russian didn't answer our question about A-records and DNS correctly.
So that's when Tony and I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I've had great experiences with GoDaddy and WordPress, and that's where we are going. Unfortunately, it won't be easy since there are many factors that make our situation unique. We may not be able to switch to WordPress, and we may have to update to the new Blogger software.
Anyway, DailySkew.com and its subdomains may be down up to 3 days once we start. But you can find us on TheDailySkew.com or Twitter/DailySkew or dailyskew@gmail.com for any status updates.
Labels: PSA
posted by Damian Hospital @ Friday, February 05, 2010
Conjugated Linoleic Acid
CLA is an acronym for conjugated linoleic acid which was accidentally discovered by scientists in mice in 1979. It has been found to reduce cancer cells and heart disease in laboratories. It is also used to reduce body fat and increase muscle mass, which is the main commercial use for it now. In nature, kangaroos have the highest concentration of CLA.
Labels: health
posted by Damian Hospital @ Friday, February 05, 2010
The Economy and Fear
This was written on October 29, 2008, a DailySkew contributor named Dani. How prophetic was he?Fear Not!
Do you feel fear after listening to all the negative stuff that is happening around us? How much of this fear is having an affect on your day to day decisions?
Kind of dumb questions right? Well, I do think that fear, to some degree, can be a healthy mechanism that helps us stay away from potential harm, sort of like an alarm. But when we let let it get to much of us, it can be very damaging, specially if it is not justifiable.
So the Big question is, Is Your Fear Real?
Let me explain. I once learn from my physics class that when two equal forces act on something from opposite directions, they pretty much cancel themselves out. In other words, the end result is as if the forces didn't even matter at all.
Here is an example:
Lots of people today are living with the fear imposed on us by all the negative information about the economy. The reality of it is, that all of us have been affected one way or another by the lack of work, cost of living, etc. And many people are terrified by the fact that house prices have taken a big hit, lots of houses are empty, some neighborhoods look desolated, and so on. However, not to long ago, lots of people were complaining about the rising cost of living, specifically the increasing price of homes. We kept on wondering when we were ever going to afford a house, or how our kids were ever going to afford it. This fear was also real not to long ago. An interesting point here, many of us that fear one side at one issue, are the same people that now fear the opposite side not to long ago.
There are many of these types of examples. If you think back, you may remember something that you used to fear, that turn out to be not so bad after all.
So is fear a real thing, of course it is. The important point is not to ignore our fears, but to identify it and to do something about it. Don't live a life hiding behind fears. At one point we should face what we fear and do something about it.
When it comes to opposing forces, you need to realize one very important thing, the good that is in you is much greater that the force imposed on you because of what you fear. So if you focus on all the good things you can be doing with your life, fear will have no say in you.
Labels: economy
posted by Damian Hospital @ Friday, February 05, 2010
Women's Vitamins
You know every time I see
vitamins for women at the pharmacy I always wonder "How do the vitamins know it's a woman?" Of course a woman's physiological make-up is different than a man's. So companies will kind of custom make the vitamins that a woman needs more than men do. Some vitamins are more specialized when it comes to skin and energy levels.
Labels: health
posted by Damian Hospital @ Friday, February 05, 2010
Politics and Fear, and the President
This was written on October 28, 2008, during the heart of the 2008 Presidential Election by a DailySkew friend named Dani. How prophetic was he?
Had enough politics yet?
There are millions glued to the tv waiting for the next big news. Like when the big storm is coming, many of us look at the weather report, as if it were going to change the outcome. Don't get me wrung, it's good to listen, but is that going to make a difference? Unless of course, you have not made up your mind yet, and you are waiting for someone to make it for you.
This may be an unfair question but, is your vote decided on what you hear on tv? I mean, do you really take what you hear as the main source of information to make your pick? I'm sure there are plenty who make little or no effort in trying to figure this out any other way. But, who's got the time right?
I personally surprised as to the great enthusiasm so far in this elections. This is a good thing. On the other hand, I have talked to many friends of mine about politics and there seems to be an enormous amount of ignorance as well. Pair this two up and it scares me. I mean many people. I'm afraid, are clueless. Don't get me wrung, I am not as informed as I would like to be either, but many people can't back up their own position let along that of the candidates.
Are you under the understanding that once your hero is elected, positive changes are coming your way? If you do, I like to tell you that I have been thinking about you the last few days and I have a question for you. Assuming your candidate wins, come January and you wake up in the morning, What is the first thing you are going to do? I mean, what is in your to-do list under your new president? That's right, you don't have a to-do list. My suggestion to you, don't wait for him. Come out of fantasy land. What ever you are going to do then, start now. Waiting for him to put money in your pocket may turn out to be a big illusion.
Labels: politics
posted by Damian Hospital @ Friday, February 05, 2010
Muscle Supplement
Before getting a
muscle supplement, be sure to read the ingredients, reviews, and testimonials to make sure your hormones will not be adversely affected. I would not be too bad to run it by your physician as well. Building muscle mass with supplements is a big decision to make and you need all of the information as possible to safeguard your body's chemistry.
Labels: help
posted by Damian Hospital @ Friday, February 05, 2010
A History of Pro Wrestling Book Review (2006)
Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America is written by a college historian, not a pro wrestling fan, so the fresh perspective is a good change of pace.
The Good- Scott Beekman goes way back and shows that American MEDIA had previously revealed that pro wrestling featured predetermined matches since the late 1800's and the story really broke during the first few decades of the 1900's. So much for the NEWSFLASH that Vince McMahon told the world in the early 1990's about wrestling not being a sport.
- Excellent analysis of the Death of the Territories, and Vince McMahon's rise to power and crushing of the other wrestling leagues.
- Great NWA history and Golden Age pro wrestling featuring Ed The Strangler Lewis, Jim Londos, Lou Thesz, Frank Gotch, and Gorgeous George.
The Bad
- No wrestling personalities are really featured here. It seems as if shady promoters are the true visionaries and controllers behind the scenes, and the pro wrestlers have a limited effect on the industry. In fact, the focus of the book is the promoters. Granted the major champions are featured, but it's a shame that say, Ric Flair and Harley Race just get honorable mentions in a pro wrestling history book.
- A bulk of the beginning of Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America was dedicated to tracing pro wrestling back to Greece and pre-1800's, when Mr. Beekman should have started with the carnivals.
Conclusion: A great reference book that delivers on its title. It answers the question: how did pro wrestling get where it is today? However, it doesn't paint any colorful pictures about the various personalities that makes pro wrestling so great to fans around the world.
Labels: wrestling
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
Directory submission services
Before you go full force in Search Engine Optimization and internet marketing you should make sure your website gets listed via
directory submission services. This is a one time thing, but many internet marketers forget this early step, which helps with getting listed in search engines and getting website backlinks. It's an action with so side effects and is very quick.
Labels: technology
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
Corporations are Made Up of People
Here's a NEWSFLASH for people who constantly attack corporations and capitalism: corporations are made up of
people, just like yourself. Just because laws consider a corporation to be a separate entity doesn't mean it is somehow granted "life" or "personality". Get ready for some deep thought provoking answers.
A corporation is made up of many different divisions, wings, shareholders, and some have thousands of employees. Many times one division doesn't agree with another division. Other times they don't even work with other divisions: see FOX News and FOX Sports. Comprised of many individuals with different roles, functions, and opinions, it's incorrect to label every employee of a corporation as "evil" or "good".
Granted, corporations are steered and motivated by charismatic CEOs who try interpret what the shareholders want. But CEO's and Board of Directions can be replaced. A corporation is not a static entity. Directions change.
WalMart is one of the most controversial corporations because of their stranglehold on the retail and food markets, and the fact that they built the Great Wal*Mart of China. Most of their employees don't care or know about the impact of the WalMart culture- and why should they? It's a job and the products are cheap. Welcome to the Machine.
It's true, once you start deconstructing corporations and labels, you can apply it to everything. For the majority of people creating labels and entities is easy. This lazy thinking enables us to see the world as black and white, with no gray. It enables us to place blame at corporations and point fingers at THEM. It also forces us to feel sympathy for "victims". We enjoy defending groups that are really illusions our minds create.
Illusions! It makes it smoother for us to get all worked up and to target entities, like "Washington", "the French", "Wall Street", "liberals", "Republicans", "the rich", "Haitians", "taxpayers", and whatever group we'd like to attack or defend.
Welcome to the Skew.
Labels: society
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
Acnepril
What is
acnepril? Acnepril is a natural acne treatment that is available without a prescription. It is said to balance hormones, cleanse skin, and strengthen skin with nutrients, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Many testimonials indicate that it can work on many different parts of your body, in addition to face, such as neck and back. It is available on the Internet.
Labels: health
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
Retro Candy Nostalgia
Tony Vahl and I were really going way back to our childhood and teen years discussing all the different types of candies we enjoyed. Seems like we had a bit of a sweet tooth. I searched for retro candies and found a bunch of sites that sell the candy. It seems like most of the candy is still manufactured, and other times they have a name change (Johnny Appleseeds have become Green Heads, Alexander the Grape had become Grapeheads, etc.) I also read that the Jawbreakers are less hard now (for the obvious reasons). Of course, with our diets, we can't get them.
It also turns out each decade has their own candy fans. It generally starts in the 1950's and works its way up to the 1990's. When I was a kid, my mom used to tell me about her favorite candies. Although the candy was great for sugar decay when she was a kid, it seems to be that the 80's and 90's really focused on hardcore SOUR candy, which happens to be my favorite.
It's funny because my grandmother likes "old people candy" like Werther's Original, Nips, and those red and white restaurant mints. My grandmother and mom generally spit out the sour stuff.
You know as Tony and I spoke about our favorite candies I realized how it sounds like drugs. I mean, we were hardcore candy eaters. It's like we were running lines of coke.
Anyway, great memories. I wish I was able to indulge with candy again. As it stands now, I sometimes get sugarless gum from my mom, and she buys me Italian ices from PhillySwirl. So I have one cup a week, basically, which is in moderation.
Maybe I should celebrate Halloween again, though. Today's supermarkets have some good hardcore candies, like BottleCaps, WarHeads, Lemonheads, Spree, and others.
BUY Hershey's Whatchamacallit
Labels: childhood memories
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
North Carolina Health Insurance
Thanks to the beauty of the internet if you live in NC, you can find all sorts of information and health plans for
North Carolina health insurance. Such health insurance includes dental, temporary, family, individual, student, term life, and many others. With instant online quotes, you can also personalize it immediately instead of playing phone tag or writing letters and sending them via snail mail.
Labels: health
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
Top 10 Reasons Why TNA Will Fail
Top 10 Reasons Why TNA Will Fail to Equal or Overtake WWE in TV Ratings, Relevance, Popularity, and Profit
10. TNA- the place where wrestlers go when Vince McMahon fires them: TNA originally was a refreshing alternative which tried to focus on high-flying, fast paced modern pro wrestling, with a good mix of B-List veterans or well-known NWA, AWA, and WWF retired wrestlers with on-screen roles. Although TNA still has young guns, the rest of the roster is made of of former WWE workers who should have retired years ago. Instead they hog the main events and interview times. Last week the Nasty Boys faced Team 3-D (Dudley Boys) in the year 2010. In other words, the veterans have the appearance of being discarded from WWE.
9. Bad PPVs- I guess people have expendable incomes. Originally, TNA's business plan was a pay per view every week for $10, but now they are back at $30 monthlies. If the PPVs were hot, like Ring of Honor (the 3rd "major" U.S. wrestling promotion) events that are sold on DVDs, that's another story. But TNA PPVs have a reputation for having boring angle segments with the booking team, Mick Foley as Commissioner, NO-SHOWS, and a 6-man tag team main event featuring old guys.
8. Copying the ghost of WCW- Anyone in the pro wrestling industry should have read the Death of WCW by now. It's a week by week analysis of everything WCW did wrong with their company. WCW had over $50 million dollars in profit one year, and then wound up losing money the next year. TNA seems to be copying "How Not to Run a Wrestling Company". In fact, they hired the SAME CAST OF CHARACTERS that killed WCW.
7. Welcome to Orlando- Yes, I know TNA sometimes goes on tour out of Florida, but it's totally based in Orlando. It's hard to have World Titles when you film from Universal Studios every week, and ask fans not to start hardcore chants.
6. Bad storylines- They don't make sense. They push older guys who have no in-ring skill anymore. No one likes them except the front office. There is a huge disconnect with fans and management. TNA tries to copy WWE and the late WCW instead of creating an identify of its own.
5. Jeff Jarrett- Let's face it, he only became a regional star because of his dad, Jerry. He's Vice-President now, and out of touch with the modern fan base. He finally jobs when he wrestles now and then, but TNA was definitely "Jeff Jarrett's league" when it first started. Now that Dixie Carter bought it over, Jarrett's power has decreased, but he's still influential behind the scenes.
4. Vince Russo- The Long Island native that makes Michael Savage look sane and rational. He's a script writer on a power trip. Truly, truly an egotistical little man, who has had a number of books written about his actual role in the WWE Attitude era and the downfall of WCW.
3. Kevin Nash- One of the worst bookers of all time, and one of the worst in-ring workers of all time. This Enneagram Type 7 believes he is a master strategists and intelligent, but his IQ is probably around 70. So what does TNA do? He tries to wrestle when his legs hold him up, collects checks from his home in Florida, and, oh, he books.
2. Eric Bischoff- 'nuff said
1. Hulk Hogan- He hasn't had a good match since......uhm....probably 1992. He has shown he has no skill for booking matches and creating storylines. His ego is larger than the sun. His salary demands are sick. He can't tell the truth. He brings "his boys" in. When it comes to manipulation and backstage politics, HHH looks like an amateur.
The Death of WCW: WrestleCrap and Figure Four Weekly Present . . . (WrestleCrap series)
Labels: wrestling
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
Quick weight loss diets
Just thought I'd let everyone know that Tony Vahl has dropped around 20 pounds in the last few weeks. Vahl has created
quick weight loss diets based on counting calories. Since Vahl has a mathematical mind and likes numbers, he has kept up the good work. Vahl says that he has kinda reached the weight loss plateau so now he is going to change some of his routines, but he still will focus on counting calories and being aware of food portions.
Labels: diet
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
Describe Colors to the Blind and the Taste of Honey
Deep thought provoking questions: How can you describe colors to a blind person? What does honey taste like? Would you say it's sweet? Like maple syrup? What's that? As you can see these are a couple of examples of how the human language had limitations. You may say, yeah, okay, so what? However language limitations have a greater impact than you may believe.
It seems as if we really so much on words that we can't see reality for how it is. Attachment to language clouds perceptions and creates a skewed reality where we must label everything. Once things are labeled and organized, it becomes easier to make snap judgments, stereotypes, and generalizations. Yup, the limitations of language enable make it easier for us to be close-minded individuals.
I guess you can see why lying is looked down upon is all of the world's major religions. It's bad enough we have issues with the Truth; lying just makes things even more confusing and stressful.
The bottom line is that you can never truly describe the color blue to a blind person without a frame of reference. And no matter how many words you use, explaining the way honey tastes can never substitute the subjective experience.
That's why I like the
Enneagram and
Buddhism as guides in this crazy world: both are subjective schools of thought that work for me, and I couldn't care less if you personally think they aren't logical.
Labels: society
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
Health Savings Account
What is a
health savings account? A HSA is a tax-advantaged medical savings account available if you are enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). U.S. Health savings accounts have been around since 2003, after President Bush signed it into law. The funds you put in your account are not subject to federal income tax at the time of deposit.
Labels: health
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, February 04, 2010
Google World Domination: Google's Motivations
Google, Google, Google....The Ultimate Big Brother of information...what is Google's end game? Is it simply to store every bit of data in the world, and store all of our personal information and habits to sell to advertisers and custom make targeted ads? I mean, that's a gold mine right there. For the last few years, many concerned technical orientated individuals have posted about the problems with Google's privacy policy, Google's immortal cookies, gmail being stored, and Google's methods of creating a character profile for you, Joe Surfer.
Since Google has made themselves irreplaceable with their search engine, webmasters and SEO marketers MUST obey and comply...or be banished to Bing (little traffic). The only people who say Google doesn't have privacy issues are the brown nosing apologists. This is not paranoia. Google offers some great tools to use "for free" but the price is that everything you do is recorded, even watching copyrighted YouTube videos.
With the announcement that Google is shutting down Blogger FTP and graciously allowing users to use their "free" blog hosting services, it's time for a change for me...at least I hope Tony and I will be able to transfer successfully. DNS servers, WordPress migrations, and dealing with webhosting companies can be complex.
I know folks, it's not a NEWSFLASH that "nothing is for free", but as our society increases our reliance on technology, internet, and digital, one has to wonder if Google will make some sort of weird and unprecedented power play in the future...something bigger than Google AdSense.
I mean would we allow some entity to log, store, and analyze our everyday non-Internet personal daily habits and link them to our name and location? You know, like a giant database that tracks our every move and opinions just so we can get hit with ads or maybe something more devious? Because that's what happens when we gladly sign up or use Gmail, Blogspot, Google search, Google Analytics, AdSense, AdWords, Toolbar, Chrome, Picasa, etc.
I may be uneasy, but I like Google and use Google. They are innovative, and Google generally improves my internet experience. I just think it's time we started to kinda wean ourselves away from it. I'm sure I will get labeled as a tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorist because I have "Google Paranoia". Heck, you can call me a hypocrite since I use Google's services.
But unlike the government, law enforcement, credit card companies, or banks, Google is in the process of consolidating
everything about you. Sure, the thousands of people who feel suspicious about Google may be in the same class as those who were afraid of flashbulb cameras when they first came out...or not. Who knows?
Labels: technology
posted by Damian Hospital @ Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Televisions
American society totally changed when
televisions became mainstream in the 1950's. Techno geeks like to argue that televisions have been commercially available since the World Fair in the late 1930's, but it's all hot hair; they were simply not in homes and there were no real channels. Just ask any senior citizen for the truth. Even though the prices were high even in the 1970's, the penetration of TVs in American households was total domination.
Labels: entertainment
posted by Damian Hospital @ Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Quick DVD Movie Reviews
Limiting myself to ONE PARAGRAPH per movie review, here is a quick movie grab-bag for
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Bruno, Monsters Inc, Inglourious Basterds, and
Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian.
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark review: An innovative blockbuster, incredible directing, and truly is a timeless classic- pure entertainment and adventure. Yet after the 20th time I watched one of the best movies of all time, and certainly one that is on my Top 10 Favorite list, I realized how unrealistic the stunts were, how cliched the Nazi characters were, and how the plot wasn't that easy to follow. Harrison Ford was irreplaceable.
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (Special Edition)
Bruno review: I thought
Bruno was supposed to be about how society hates gays, you know a social meaning in a comedy context, like Borat was about Jew-haters. The trailer was funny. Instead, Sacha Baron Cohen created a truly unfunny movie with no punchlines and forced X-rated scenes. Bruno sets the gay movement BACK, not forward. For me, I wasn't offended about homosexuality- it was simply a dumb movie that allowed Sasha to show us his penis. One of the worst movies I ever saw. Should have been NC-17 or just labeled as a porn movie, instead of rated "R". There is not "art" here, just filthy without meaning or humor.
Brüno [Blu-ray]
Monsters, Inc review: Well, I liked it, but wouldn't say it ranks in my top Pixar, Disney, or animated kids movies. I thought the script, setting, and plot seemed to be way over the heads of kids, which seemed like a marketing ploy to get adults to see it. A fun movie, nonetheless. The little human girl stole the show.
Monsters, Inc. (4-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray]
Inglourious Basterds review: This is not an action movie, even with all the gore. Quentin Tarantino rewrites world history and created his life long dream project; the most unique Hitler assassination plot movie. Tarantino deconstructs the genre. It's all about killing Nazis, Garth Ennis style. Christoph Waltz has an award-winning performance as an SS officer- one of the best villains you'll ever see. I liked it. That being said, Tarantino is too stylish and it's distracting. He "pays homage" to the spaghetti Westerns with extended 15-minute slow paced scenes to show dramatic tension. Characters debate German film directors and non-sequiturs rule supreme. Seems like Tarantino targeted film students and film critics, since many of the techniques were over my head.
Inglourious Basterds (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian review: Although they changed
a lot from the original
NatM, it's
still as fun as the original, just not as fresh. Ben Stiller, sporting his worst haircut ever and probably mailing this movie in for a huge paycheck, is upstaged by Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, and Hank Azaria. If you liked the first one, you should like the second one, but realize that it's just slightly not as good.
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Three-Disc Edition + Digital Copy + DVD) [Blu-ray]
Labels: Movies
posted by Damian Hospital @ Sunday, January 31, 2010
Missy Hyatt: First Lady of Wrestling Book Review
Missy Hyatt book review (2001): For those of you who are not hardcore or oldschool wrestling fans, you may not know Missy Hyatt since she never had a WWF run back in its heydey. She was well-known if you watched NWA rasslin' in the 1980's- she was a valet and announcer for a few non-WWF wrestling promotions, like World Class, UWF, CWF, WCW, and ECW. The truth is most of her stays were brief, just like her male relationships.
Missy Hyatt: First Lady of Wrestling is really a memoir full of sex stories and the world revolving around Missy (real name: Melissa Ann Hiatt). She has an
Enneagram Personality Type 7, and she's not mentally stable. Look, we live in a society where I get heat for being "judgemental", but Missy is pretty clear about how she broke in the wrestling industry: it all started with oral sex. Many guys online simply don't want to come clean about labeling Missy like that since she gives shoot interviews to wanna-be "wrestling journalists". She broke in as an obsessive fan and became a ring rat (groupie) in
Florida (of course).
Missy isn't the most introspective person in the world, so we don't really know why she felt that she had to do this. It just is what it is. Missy Hyatt: First Lady of Wrestling is actually a unique wrestling autobiography because its through the eyes of an unabashed slut, who leaves her man when she no longer feel mentally or physically stimulated, or sees a bigger fish to catch. And since she's a narcissist (yet subconsciously she has no self-esteem, not that she realizes that) she took great offense when Jake Roberts and Hawk dumped her.
Missy's nickname as the "First Lady" is misleading: she wasn't the first ring rat, she wasn't the first female valet, and she's was no lady. The tone of the book is conversational, and it seems her entire career in wrestling from 1985 to 1996 is one big girl's night out, never mind that she broke a few hearts on the way, such as her late ex-husband Eddie Gilbert and Jason Hervey (The Wonder Years).
Missy writes that men are more easy to figure out then women, because she knows what men want. Considering the fact that her relationships are so numerous, and she had the need to "kiss and tell" and relate embarrassing sexual stories about men in her book, I don't think she has anything figured out. One of the most embarrassing stories is her sexual encounter with football quarterback Jim Kelly. Let's just say she explained why Kelly had a reputation for choking in the Super Bowl.
It's not like any of her stories are revelant to the history of wrestling, although in her skewed mind, everyone copied her and used her ideas (she was even so audacious to say that the nWo idea came from Eddie Gilbert and Missy's USWA TV segment).
However, by far the most interesting part of the book was her aborted WWF signing, which is ironic since it's a footnote in WWF's history, and just a blip in her career. When I was a kid, I would buy ALL of the wrestling magazines, and they would always hype the female valets since the girls were always willing to have their photos taken. Well, the magazines were reporting that the WWF had signed Missy Hyatt and she was taking over Piper's Pit in 1987. Yet I never saw Missy Hyatt on WWF programming. Missy explains the whole situation, and gives a great insight on Vince McMahon. It turns out Vince thought that Missy would be as big as Hulk Hogan! So he treated her like a queen and gave her the show Missy's Manor. The problem: Missy didn't know how to interview anyone or even hold the microphone [ironic]. Plus the fans in Vegas where the TV taping was, never heard of this southern girl. She bombed a couple of times- there were no scripts then- I mean REALLY bombed.
The other layer of the story is that McMahon begrudgingly was going to hire her husband as well, but Eddie had wanted to take over Piper's Pit. McMahon valued Missy more because she was a sex symbol, as opposed to Eddie, who had an excellent mind for wrestling, and was great on the mic.
So Vince came to her and said that she can be in charge of the Federettes, who were "ring girls" who take a wrestler's cape or sunglasses back to the dressing room after he's announced. Although the money was good, her husband Eddie Gilbert told her to come back home, especially since she would be working an angle with the Honky Tonk Man.
And so that was Missy's chance, and both she and McMahon blew it. (If anything, she should have been started off as a valet, like Sensational Sherri, and worked her way to becoming a personality.)
Missy is light on wrestling details because frankly she was probably coked out and doesn't even remember them. But the better reason is that it's just all non-consequential to her- she was a bad worker that had to be motivated, and it all depended on who her boyfriend was at the time. Most of her experiences are based on competing with other female valets, dealing with promoters, flirting with men, and being "spoiled" by her partner.
Like most wenches, she filed a lawsuit...Missy filed against WCW for sexual harassment. Paul E Dangerously and ECW did a parody sketch on that when she made her debut with ECW- one of the male workers (Stevie Richards) filed against her.
It's easy to call me negative and judgmental. So I will give you that I bet millions of women behave like she does, and are probably jealous of her stories. It's all about getting ATTENTION and feeling WANTED, and climbing the ladder by teasing men or giving $@$@. This book is every man's nightmare, and many women's dream. It's still a fun and quick read.
Conclusion: Before TMZ there was Missy Hyatt: First Lady of Wrestling.
My Wrestling Autobiography Rankings
1- (THREE W
AY CHAMPS) Ric Flair/Chris Jericho/Bret Hart
4- Mick Foley I
5- Dynamite Kid
6- Billy Graham
7- Fred Blassie
8- Lou Thesz
9- Shawn Michaels10-Batista
11- Ted DiBiase
12- Jerry Lawler
13- Mick Foley II
14- Harley Race
15- Dusty Rhodes
16- Terry Funk
17- Ivan Koloff
18- Bobby Heenan I19- Missy Hyatt
20- Jesse Ventura
21- The Rock
22- Roddy Piper
23- Bruno Sammartino
24- Arn Anderson Labels: wrestling
posted by Damian Hospital @ Saturday, January 30, 2010
Red Hulk #1 Review Fall of the Hulks Marvel Comics
Red Hulk #1 review: What a big comic book week, huh? Bunch of DailySkew reviews. Okay, here we have what was billed as the main event, after all, it IS RULK #1, right? It's the Fall of the Hulks, and we have a Hulk comic, called
Red Hulk#1, featuring RULK BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT! Jeph Loeb isn't even writing it, Jeff Parker from the excellent
FotH: Alpha wrote it. So what is
Red Hulk #1 about?
First of all, we are told that
Red Hulk #1 takes place BEFORE
Incredible Hulk #606. Now, which Marvel editor can I bitch slap for that? How about I blame EIC Joe Quesada and call it a day, okay?
Well, Rulk and A-Bomb (that's the new BLUE Abomination, aka Rick Jones) both meet up at one of M.O.D.O.K. and AIM's secret lairs. Bruce Banner sent A-Bomb to make sure Rulk doesn't mess up. We see that MODOK makes clones of himself to harvest their brains as computer hardware, and their bodies for organ replacements.
Then we see that Green Hulk android again (the one that fought Dr. Doom in the aforementioned
IH#606, and whom we saw in
Fall of the Hulks Alpha as being part of the Intelligencia's master plan. This time, he's officially called COSMIC HULK. Through advanced computer discs, we learn that the robot is powered by Galactus. The energy inside it was originally a pre-herald that Galactus used thousands of years ago.
The original Hulk robot had appeared in old Marvel comics like the ETERNALS, so this serves as a good retcon for how an android could be so powerful. The cosmic robot involves some old names from the Fantastic Four's past like the Mad Thinker, Diablo, Professor Gregson Gilbert, and Galactus.
When Rulk tries to touch Crulk (fandom's soon to be new name for COSMIC ROBOT HULK), some of his energy gets transferred, and it becomes activated. He beats A-Bomb and Rulk up, and the Leader comes on the viewscreen and basically says "Thanks for falling in my trap and powering up the robot".
Back at Bruce Banner's base, Rulk, and A-Bomb talk about recruiting the Savage She-Hulk to battle Crulk. Bruce looks shocked that Lyra is Hulk's daughter in a future timeline. To be continued....
The Good- Not as bad as some of Jeph Loeb's Rulk stories.
- Backup section had original art from old Marvel comics showing Crulk.
The Bad- It's Red Hulk #1...it's Fall of the Hulks...you'd THINK we'd get a Big Reveal about WHO IS RULK? WHO IS RED SHE-HULK? Instead we get the (kinda) untold origin of CRULK.
- Red Hulk #1 does not advance the storyline, it just fills in some backstory about CRULK.
- Jeff Parker isn't as tight as before...dialog seems like he's aping Jeph Loeb- and that is not a good thing!
- Makes one wonder how long Marvel can get away with charging for background story issues. [Answer: as long as you keep buying.] Anyhow, all storylines get collected in Trade Paperbacks now...
Conclusion: Would have been a better issue if not hampered by Marvel's crazy shipping schedule, expectations, and
Red Hulk #1 having a green Hulk on the cover all by itself. Please start the CRULK usage campaign on your favorite message board forums.
Red Hulk #1 Ratings (1-10, with 10 being perfect, 5 being Average, and 1 being poo-poo)
Marvel Comics
January 2010 publish date
Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief
Overall Comic- 4
Writer Jeff Parker- 5
Penciler Carlos Rodriguez-6
Inker: Vincente Cifuentes- 6
Editors: Marc Paniccia, Jordan White, Nathan Cosby, Dan Buckley (Publisher)- 2
Fall of Hulks Red Hulk #1
Labels: comics
posted by Damian Hospital @ Friday, January 29, 2010
Amazing Spider-Man 619 Review Mysterio, Capt Stacy
Amazing Spider-Man 619 review, continuing
The Gauntlet storyline:
- Silvermane was really dead; Mysterio is controlling the robot.
- Mysterio's illusions are very powerful- Spider-Man thinks he killed a Maggia gang member. Then the Big Man returns from the 1960's, and it looks like a bunch of gang members die in a shootout. Spidey knows Big Man is dead, and rips his mask off. It's Captain Stacy. Spidey isn't buying- not for one second; it's an actor. Spidey knows Mysterio is behind everything.
- Mr. Karnelli- the Maggia boss- thought he was in control, but it turns out Mysterio was manipulating him. Mysterio- via the Silvermane robot- kills Karnelli in front of his men to assume full control.
- Hammerhead has a control chip in his brain, so he must serve Mr. Negative.
- Negative Aunt May totally ripped Harry Osborn a new hole for allowing her house to burn down issues ago.
- Capt Yuri Wantanabe is the new Capt Jean DeWolffe (she even trained with her).
- Carlie Cooper's dad may really be alive; turns out he made a deal with the mob and Mysterio back in the day.
Conclusion: OK comic book. Nothing really special, nothing really bad. Let's hope Part 3 of the Mysterio storyline wraps it up better.
Amazing Spider-Man
619 Ratings (1-10, with 10 being perfect, 5 being Average, and 1 being poo-poo)
Marvel ComicsJanuary 2010 publish dateJoe Quesada, Editor in ChiefOverall Comic- 5Writer Dan Slott- 6Penciler Marcos Martin- 6Color Art: Javier Rodriguez- 6Editors: Stephen Wacker, Tom Brevoort, Alan Fine, Dan Buckley (Publisher)- 5
Amazing Spider-Man #619
Labels: comics
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, January 28, 2010
Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin #7 Review
Batman and Robin #7 review- Blackest Knight Part 1-This was delayed by DC for MONTHS (my
BandR #6 review was in November) because the editors didn't want any spoilers before Blackest Night #6 (I guess the return of Bruce Wayne). Guess what? There were no spoilers in this issue, so DC Editorial dropped the ball again.
Anyway, Batman and Robin #7 is mostly about Dick Grayson teaming up with the English Robin, Squire. Batman and Squire deal with the U.K.'s villains, since Damian is being rejuvenated by his mother, Talia. They meet up with Knight, Britain's Batman (the U.K. versions act like 1950's Batman), and they follow Dick to find the last Lazurus Pit (how many times have we heard that?). Batwoman pops out of nowhere, and Dick explains that he wants to resurrect Bruce's dead body (is that Bruce's skeleton? I don't think so...). He throws the skeleton in the pit, and "Batman" is now alive again.
The Good
- The ARTWORK! Cameron Stewart seems to be the master of the subtle and sequential action panels. He's a minimalist, yet it feels modern, like a clean non-weird version of Frank Quitely.
- Vintage Grant Morrison-he dropped a bunch of British super villain names all in one panel, showing a history and background for the U.K., just like Alan Moore has the ability to weave a tapestry of fictional backstory so naturally. [James Robinson did this as well in Starman.]
- This was a far out acid trip issue in the typical Grant Morrison manner when Grant wants to feel campy and happy.
The Bad
- Wow, so Dick Grayson totally wants to give up being Batman and jobs out his role. He even tells Squire he'll be back in pixie shoes by the New Year. Wow.
- Dicks calls Bruce his "brother", when in fact their relationship has always been father and son. Of course, thanks to DC's arrangement of the New Earth timeline, their age difference is only 5-10 years now. May have been "correct", but was distracting.
- No captions in a Grant Morrison comic. Again. We have one of the best 1st pages of all time, and then Page 2 jumps to London....with no caption. Even with the fantastic transitional panel layouts by Cameron Stewart, I had to read Batman and Robin #7 twice to understand it...The blame goes to Morrison and the editors for using this style. Captions tell me the setting, transitions, and background info that dialog does not. What's next to be cut in the new age of comic book storytelling?
- Batman and Batwoman's speech bubbles were reversed in a panel.
- Cameron Stewart draws a crappy Batwoman, sorry.
Conclusion: Welcome to the highbrow intellectual deconstructed New Earth Morrison version of Batman..lol...Look, everyone is going to buy this comic book anyway. Batman and Robin is a hot comic, although it may have lost a lot of steam due to the delay. I don't have regrets reading this comic, although I may have to read it three times to understand the British subplot and how Batwoman is involved.
Batman and Robin #7 Ratings (1-10, with 10 being perfect, 5 being Average, and 1 being poo-poo)
DC Comics
January 2010 publish date
Dan DiDio, Uncredited EIC
Overall Comic- 6
Writer Grant Morrison- 6
Penciler Cameron Stewart- 8
Editors: Mike Marts and Janelle Siegel- 2
Labels: comics
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, January 28, 2010
Siege: Storming Of Asgard Heroes And Villains # 1 Review
Siege: Storming Of Asgard Heroes And Villains #1 is a one shot that goes over in more detail about all of the players in Marvel Comics'
The Siege event. The bios are framed and written by H.A.M.M.E.R. agents. I can't really give any ratings for this comic book, since it simply has bios of the heroes, villains, and teams that are involved in
The Siege.
That being said, I am upset that Marvel would slap a huge cover price for
Storming Of Asgard Heroes And Villains, when it simply is a promotional comic. (How many one-shots did I review for
The Siege event so far?)
The ironic part is that this comic actually has all the info I needed to be fully briefed about all the details of the recent happening of the Marvel Universe, such as the White Queen and Namor teaming up and rebelling against Normal Osborn, or how Steve Rogers' return is not publicly known yet, or that there are 5 Avengers teams.
Storming Of Asgard Heroes And Villains should have been released before any other issue of
The Siege. I'm pretty sure all the regular Marvel Comics addicts known every little trivia contained in this comic, and all of the info can be found on various parts of the WWW. Yet I'm also sure that the collectors JUST HAVE to get
Storming Of Asgard Heroes And Villains so they can satisfy their obsessive compulsive behavior.
For casual fans, in fairness, this is a great book which will educate you, since it covers everyone's recent history. As much as I would like to share all the character changes and subplots in the recent Marvel Universe, it is more suitable for a DailySkew Podcast.
It just seems trashy for Marvel to charge so much money for it. It's funny because my opinion would get shouted down on the comic book forums because Marvel's defenders always say that Marvel is a "for profit" company and capitalism rules.
So go ahead...buy
Storming Of Asgard Heroes And Villains.
Labels: comics
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, January 28, 2010
Door hardware
If you are not born with the natural skills of being a Mr. Fixit, replacing or installing
door hardware is like rocket science. There are times I feel frustrated or inept when it comes to home repairs, especially when people will much lower IQ's can make home repairs with ease, like the macho fisherman and hunters who can repair door hardware in their sleep.
Labels: home
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, January 28, 2010
Best Rock Movie: The Rundown (2003)? Review
So with Dwayne Johnson (formerly known as
The Rock) starring in
The Tooth Fairy (15% Rotten Tomatoes rating) at your local movie theater, I decided to find out the answer to the question: "What is The Rock's best movie?" Dwayne Johnson has been in a lot of movies since he retired from the WWE, and although Rotten Tomatoes critics ripped every single one, the fan ratings have been much higher. Over on the pro wrestling message boards, it seems as if every one of his movies are enjoyable (except
Doom, of course). (I, for one, loved
Gridiron Gang- an inspirational drama, in which Johnson taps into his natural Motivator mode, and was shocked at its 42% rating). It seems that the RT critics HATE macho action flicks and HATE Disney live action kid movies.
Anyway, let's get to
The Rundown, which RT says is the best Rock movie (71%). Dwayne Johnson at that time was still billed The Rock (tm), and this was his first lead in an action movie. Its goal was to make him the next
Arnold Schwarzenegger (who has a half second cameo). Johnson plays Beck, who is a "retriever" of debts; hired muscle for a
Gambler-type. Beck is good natured, but business is business. The Gambler sends Beck to get his son (Seann William Scott) from Brazil. Beck begrudgingly agrees; he really wants to get out of this bone crushing business and wants to own a restaurant on his own. Christopher Walken is running a slave gold mine in Brazil, and he's after Sean William Scott's character to find a hidden treasure. Rosario Dawson is the love interest/Brazilian rebel against Walken. There's also a Scottish airplane pilot, who works with Beck.
The Good
- The fight scenes are well choreographed.
- The Rock has some good one-liners. "Option A...or Option B". The Rock's performance is good (if you don't count Scorpion King, this was his first real acting lead) but he's limited by the script.
- Director Peter Berg had some good shots at a night club and in the Amazon jungle [well, actually Hawaii in real life].
The Bad
- Seann William Scott. Need I say more? Talk about being type casted as an obnoxious, snobby, dumb, rich jock all the time. Seriously, if Sean William Scott is your sidekick in a movie, try to void the contract.
- Everything about the movie was predictable, and it's full of Hollywood cliches (not the fun ones, though). It just didn't have the charm of some of Arnold's 1980's action movies.
- Christopher Walken mailing it in...
- Probably not one of my wife's favorite movies.....I think she woke up when the MONKEYS (!!) showed up and beat up The Rock and Seann William Scott.
- Can we ban Scottish accents in American movies? I'm still trying to figure out what Scotty from Star Trek was saying. It's worse than Jar-Jar Binks. Subtitles, please? And why are the Scottish characters given the mantle to tell us plot details? Perhaps because the plot doesn't make sense in English.
Conclusion: It's not like there's anything too bad about this movie, but there's not a lot that's good besides The Rock. This is for Rock fans only, or if you have an addiction for cliched action movies. This movie has no innovations and is not a genre buster, nor does it bring the action genre to new heights. It's like a TNT movie that you turn on 30 minutes into the start, or if you're over a relative's house and there are a bunch of people walking around and talking.
Labels: Movies
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, January 28, 2010
Samsung HDTV
Welcome to the year 2010, where such different technologies such a
Samsung HDTV, LCD TV, Plasma TV, LED TV, LCD Monitor, and Blue Ray DVD players are all hot and coveted items. It's not just the upper class or middle class that have these entertainment devices, it is very common for the lower classes to have flat screens in their living rooms and bedrooms. Anyone who says this is the lowest point in American history has zero perspective.
Labels: technology
posted by Damian Hospital @ Thursday, January 28, 2010
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen Review
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen had one major thing going for it before I watched it: my expectations had been knocked down by
Transformers 1. Although it still has tons of plot holes, poor acting, and is a (groan) teen movie, I liked
Revenge of the Fallen better than
TF1! I thought it was more like the comic books and cartoons because there was more action, it had a sci-fi feel, there was more Optimus Prime, and they got into the pre-history retcons with The Fallen and the Primes. I dug RotF.
The Good
- Optimus Prime vs Megatron II- wow, looks like my original criticisms were on the money. This time, Michael Bay and the screenwriters move the two titans to an unpopulated area, and Optimus fights heroically, but is killed by Megatron a la the original Transformers animated movie (STILL the best hehehehe).
- Action galore- battles were bigger and badder. They kept me distracted from thinking.
- Special effects- fantastic. Egypt was a great setting.
- Soundwave (voice only) and was nice to see Ravage, although I didn't like his silver coat or one eye. And heaven forbid Ravage is a CASSETTE, right?
- Starscream showed some of his old personality. Wish he'd get more screentime, though.
- Sound effects (I love Starscream's EMP bomb and other TS laser beams) and music fit the tone.
- Glad Optimus Prime is alive again. Whew....
- Creating a backstory for the Primes and having Jetfire be a relic got me pumped about reading my Transformers comic books in the future.
The Bad
- The freakin' puny humans. I'm not going to spend more time talking about them. I was rooting for The Fallen to blow out the sun to shut them up. In the original Transformers comic books and most of the cartoons, the humans always seemed like insignificant background characters, who were so fragile, in the Bayverse, they are the focus.
- The millionaire stripper pig, what's her name? Oh yeah, Megan Fox.
- Megatron having a master so soon.
- Still was hard for me to distinguish some Autobots from Decepticons.
- Hard to tell what's going on, and who's shooting at whom sometimes.
- Plot hole city.
- Length- 2:30??? I would have cut the college scenes out and a bunch of human stuff to make it around 1:40.
- Yes, those two twin Transformers- Amos and Andy- are signs of the demoralization of Western Society.
- Michael Bay's vision and design of the robots are different than mine- I still don't like that fact that most of the robots are too silver and most are relegated to being background characters.
- College campus. My wife, who was not born in the U.S., wanted to know if that's what college life is like.
- Bad directing- scenes jump so fast I felt dizzy. I know he did it on purpose, too.
Conclusion: Revenge of the Fallen, PANNED by critics [20% RT rating], made a lot more money than the original blockbuster. You asked for a sequel America, and you got a better movie. This movie was more enjoyable than the first one, which was a culture shock for me, and it spent too much time on intros and trying to mainstream it for parents.
RotF gets the job done- it seems more targeted to fans of the robots in disguise. I find it amazing how so many critics and forum mutants kill RotF but gave the first movie praise. Continuing my Mortal Kombat analogy, I expected RotF to be like Mortal Kombat 2: Annihilation, which just had new characters and different actors, and was not as fresh as Mortal Kombat 1. However, I was pleasantly surprised that Transformers 2 was a little more enjoyable than Transformers 1.
Labels: Movies, Review
posted by Damian Hospital @ Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Boca Town Center Square Murder Police Sketch
Have you seen this man?
Check out the ponytail, folks.
The nose.
The skin tone.
The friggin' hat.
The eye shape.
Those lips.
Those sunglasses.
The fact that he ties a string under his chin.
The unbuttoned shirt.
The blue halo around his head.
The words "McMahon BSO" written on his white t-shirt.Look familiar?
This cartoon character killed Nancy and Joey Bochicchio a mother and daughter in Boca Town Square Mall.Check out
Crime Stoppers if you have any info about this Floridian, especially after police have revealed the goggles he used to cover the victims' eyes.
Labels: Crime
posted by Damian Hospital @ Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Another Look at Twitter and Facebook
I have embraced Facebook and Twitter only because I'd be stupid not to. Anyway, back in September, I posted a
Facebook review. Unfortunately, nothing has changed since then; all of my initial Facebook reactions remain the same. Perhaps the most disappointing and ironic nature of Facebook is that after years of disconnect with school or day camp friends, I found out that we have nothing to say to each other. Some just accept me as a friend and never even e-mail me.
Here's a little secret about my Facebook experience: of my 74 friends, I've only had a handful of personal messages (I'm not talking about family or friends in real life who communicate with me outside of Facebook). Most people just ignore me or tag my wall with crap. My good news is that I was able to know my half-brothers, well, actually just one of them. I guess the other one is busy uploading photo albums.
Many of my former co-workers or work associates are just gossip mongers who interpret everything I say to be related to Tashman Technologies, so even with privacy options, I simply don't say anything meaningful on FB.
Regarding society as a whole: I think Facebook ruins dating and relationships. The most powerful weapon a woman has now is her "Facebook Relationship Status". This is where you see if your relationship gets downgraded from "In a Relationship" to "It's Complicated" to "Single" and then back to "In a Relationship" (with someone else). Your girlfriend will also get pelted with 100 compliments from guys a day, after all she is posting photos that show her body below the neck.
I think there is no privacy on the default settings and there are too many holes in Facebook's Terms of Service. Farmville, PetVille, PetSociety, MafiaWars and other Facebook games KILL production. Facebook disgusts me; that being said I log in every day to see what's happening.
Twitter is a website that baffled me at first, especially since I could never follow when someone responds to a faceless person. It's like listening to the end of a conversation, and is a waste of time. As it stands now, I like Twitter because Tony Vahl and I can communicate instantly. From the marketing standpoint, Twitter is great because you have a voluntary audience. Of course, how many Twitter followers are "real"? Most are simply robots who are powered by an API to spam the bandwidth. Twitter has become the gathering ground for Internet Marketing wanna-be's. Here's a #newsflash, friends: unless you send me a direct @dailyskew tweet, I don't read your crap. If you are selling the "mom finds out how to get white teeth" ad, I know you're a spammer.
The mainstream MEDIA likes to give credit to Twitter for the Iranian "revolution" and locating Haitian earthquake survivors. Whatevah. It's such a simple interface, that you have to wonder what Twitter 2.0 will be like. Why do I have the feeling Twitter will become irrelevant within 5 years, and the robots will find another place to play?
Facebook and Twitter never cease to amaze me when athletes and celebrities (and wanna-be celebs) get in hot water for tying something stupid. Although they bring fans closer to celebrities (the nobility of the modern age) I wish famous figures would exercise a little caution and knowledge about the lack of privacy of their comments.
The level of trivia and insignificant daily updates on Facebook and Twitter is tiring as well. Here are some actual status messages from friends:
"I'm walking to my next class at school and I DEF smell weed!!! Lol"
"We just finished dinner and it was yum yum good!!!!!"
"Click Here for the Secret Blueprint Everybody Was Waiting For... Learn How A Super Mega Affiliate Makes 7 Figure A Year"
Labels: society
posted by Damian Hospital @ Tuesday, January 26, 2010
